ESPERANTO 


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HEARINGS 

BEFORE THE 


COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION 


.HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

SIXTY-THIRD CONGRESS 
Second Session 

on 


H. RES. 415 

A RESOLUTION PROVIDING FOR THE STUDY OF ESPERANTO 
AS AN AUXILIARY LANGUAGE 


STATEMENTS OF 

HON. RICHARD BARTHOLDT 

A Representative from the State of Missouri 
AND 

PROF. A. CHRISTEN 


N MARCH 17, 1914 



w 


GOVERN 










COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION. 


House of Representatives, Sixty-third Congress. 
DUDLEY M. HUGHES, Georgia, Chairman. 


WILLIAM W. RUCKER, Missouri. 
ROBERT L. DOUGHTON, North Carolina. 
JOHN W. ABERCROMBIE, Alabama. 

J. THOMPSON BAKER, New Jersey. 

JOHN R. CLANCY, New York. 

THOMAS C. THACHER, Massachusetts. 
STEPHEN A. HOXWORTH, Illinois. 

James L. 

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JAMES F. BURKE, Pennsylvania. 
CALEB POWERS, Kentucky. 

HORACE M. TOWNER, Iowa. 
EDMUND PLATT, New York. 

ALLEN T. TREADWAY, Massachuset 
SIMEON D. FESS, Ohio. 

ARTHUR R. RUFLEY, Pennsylvania. 
Fort, Clerk. 


D. OF D, 

JUN 26 1914 










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ESPERANTO. 


House of Representatives, 

Committee on Education, 

Tuesday, March 17, 1914 . 

Tlie committee this day met, Hon. Dudley M. Hughes (chairman 
presiding. 

STATEMENT OF HON. RICHARD BARTHOLDT, A REPRESENTA¬ 
TIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF MISSOURI. 

Mr. Bartiioldt. Mr. Chairman and gentlemen, I do not wish to 
occupy your time, for the reason that I can be here almost anv time, 
while Prof. Christen has made a special trip from New York for this 
purpose, and I should like to give him all the time you can afford to 
devote to this bill. 

I merely wish to say, in explanation, that I have not, as you will 
notice, introduced this bill by request; I have assumed responsibility 
for it personally because I thoroughly believe in it. I first introduced 
the bill in the shape of a request to the Committee on Education to 
investigate the subject; that is, as to the practicability and advis¬ 
ability of introducing Esperanto as an auxiliary language in the pub¬ 
lic schools. Tli at resolution was referred to the Committee on Rules 
and, of course, I could not get any action in that committee, and for 
that reason I reintroduced the bill in its present form, which merely 
provides that Esperanto be taught as a part of the course of study 
m the schools of Washington, this being the only jurisdiction we have 
in the matter of education. 

We Americans are known the world over as being deficient in the 
knowledge of languages. I think we might as well admit that. 
While every other nation is teaching two or three languages in its 
schools we have failed to do so, and yet the requirements of inter¬ 
national trade and commerce make it absolutely essential that our 
young men should be taught at least one language or two languages 
besides their own. Now, this being the case and Esperanto now 
being taken up by nearly all the civilized countries as an auxiliary 
language, how easy it would be for us, instead of compelling our 
children in the schools to learn Spanish, French, and German, to 
simply take one lesson a week in Esperanto and thereby enable this 
nation to correspond and communicate in a common language with 
all the other nations of the world. 

The Chairman. Your idea would be that the various nations would 
understand Esperanto, and that whenever they would use that 
language all would understand and comprehend it? Is that your 
idea? 


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ESPERANTO. 


Mr. Bartholdt. Yes. I want to say that there is a movement 
on foot in nearly every civilized country to make Esperanto a part 
of the course of study in the schools. If that were carried out, each 
country would learn its own language and Esperanto, in England 
English and Esperanto, and so on, so that the international lan¬ 
guage would really be Esperanto. As one who has studied lan¬ 
guages to some extent I can feel the shortcomings and handicaps of 
a man who, for instance, having studied French for some time, comes 
to Paris. The very moment you open your mouth the people will 
notice that you are a foreigner, no matter how well you speak French, 
so that the other man, the native, has a certain advantage oyer you. 
But if that Frenchman were obliged to speak Esperanto with yon 
then you would be on a common level and neither would have an 
advantage over the other. I have read in several of the Esperanto 
newspapers that, for instance, in England the great manufacturing 
establishments are now printing their catalogues and price lists in 
Esperanto, and that other publications are sent all over the world 
printed in that language, in matters of trade and commerce. So 
you can see it is coming. And since we have not overcrowded the 
minds of our children with languages as yet, I think it would be 
advisable and profitable for us to start with Esperanto. 

I want to add that it is a very easy language. I have learned it in 
four lessons. Of course I have not had the time to keep it up, and 
you must keep in practice. 

The Chairman. Does Esperanto partake more of the Spanish lan¬ 
guage ? 

Mr. Bartholdt. No. For an English-speaking person it is very 
easy to learn, because it is composed of words taken from the English 
language, some from the German language, and some from the Latin. 
But the whole construction of the language is so remarkably simple 
that you will wonder why it is that a universal language of that kind 
has not been introduced before for the use of civilized men. 

That is all I wish to say, gentlemen, and I take pleasure in intro¬ 
ducing Prof. Christen, of New York, to you, whom I regard as one of 
the greatest living experts in that language and a missionary for 
Esperanto. 

STATEMENT OF PROF. A. CHRISTEN, 547 RIVERSIDE DRIVE, 
NEW YORK CITY. 

Prof. Christen. Mr. Chairman and gentlemen, this is quite a 
novel experience to me. I do not even know how these hearings are 
carried on, but I am entirely at your disposal and shall be very glad 
to answer questions. If I had my own way I would like to speak for 
at least an hour and a half or two hours, but I understand that you 
can not give me so much time. Therefore, it will be rather difficult to 
put in all the information I would like to lay before you. I should 
like to tell you something about the absurd and ridiculous linguistic 
chaos to which the world has been brought through those great 
agencies of progress which have now practically abolished distance 
and brought the ends of the earth nearer to each other than were the 
opposite frontiers of the smallest kingdom 100 years ago; (1) 1 then 
about the advisability, nay, the absolute necessity of anlnternational 


1 See additions to verbatim report of hearing. 




ESPERANTO. 


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language; how various attempts have been made to meet this growing 
demand for a special international language, not for home consump¬ 
tion but only for intercourse with all other nations, and why this one 
is, in my opinion and in that of many wiser men, bound to succeed, 
and that is because it absolutely fills the bill and is fool-proof; as a 
scientific and-af) the same time practical scheme, it can not be improved 
upon. Nextyl should like to speak about the reason why neither 
English, nor any other living language, can ever become international. 
No living language can become international because they are all too 
difficult, too complicated, and not neutral; (2) and then, perhaps, I 
ought to give you a few outlines of the construction of Esperanto to 
show you why it is so easy, how it meets all the requirements of the 
case, and is going to succeed. However, I do not suppose I shall be 
able to do all of this, and, therefore, will merely take a few points. 

Dr. Bartholdt has mentioned to you the movement that is 
already in existence for Esperanto. Here is the official yearbook 
of the Universala Esperanto-Asocio (3), the best-organized inter¬ 
national society that the movement has yet produced. / This 
society is called the Universal Esperanto Association. It is not a 
propaganda society, but purely a commercial league for the coordained 
use of the language, not merely for the spread of it, but for its prac¬ 
tical use among those who have already learned it. This association 
has 698 branches throughout the world, and is in its sixth year. Here 
is a map showing the places in which the society is represented, and 
to-day, if I want any information on any industrial, commercial, edu¬ 
cational, scientific, or any other matter—say, in Portugal, Russia, 
Japan, Spain, Belgium, Holland, or China, etc.—I look up the place 
nearest to the district from which I want that information ana find 
the address of the Esperanto center there. Then I write to the dele¬ 
gate and ask for the information in Esperanto, and no matter what 
language he speaks at home I will get a reply in Esperanto, and he 
will take any amount of trouble to satisfy my demands. This society 
has done a remarkable amount of excellent work in the last five 
years, and Esperanto is more and more used for all practical interna¬ 
tional purposes. 

Now, Dr. Bartholdt told you about many commercial houses in 
different countries already using Esperanto practically, that is to say, 
actually using it for their business purposes internationally, printing 
their circulars, price lists, catalogues, and so on, in Esperanto, and 
using it for correspondence. 

I am reminded that seven years ago, in the north of Scotland, I 
saw a communication to a Scotch railroad company from a French 
railroad company written in English, but across the communication 
there were stamped the words, “We correspond in Esperanto.” And 
that was six or seven years ago, and since that time Esperanto has 
made very great strides. 

I have here a number of trade catalogues in Esperanto, and you 
will see from the nature of them that they are really very elaborate 
things and on which these firms have spent a great deal of money, 
which they would not do if they did not think the thing was actually 
paying. I have only about 40 such samples here because I can not 
carry them all about with me. For instance, here is a very elaborate, 
costly, and handsome catalogue from the biggest firm of photographic 
instrument makers in Germany, and, I believe, in the world. 


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ESPERANTO. 


Here is a pamphlet issued by the Chamber of Commerce of Los 
Angeles, a very attractive pamphlet. That was published in order 
to attract European immigration to that portion of California, and 
that same chamber of commerce has made large use of Esperanto 
for that purpose. Two years ago they sent a man to lecture all over 
Europe and in some parts of Asia on the attractions of California. 
That lecturer visited 27 different countries; he lectured in 120 differ¬ 
ent towns during 18 months and every one of his lectures was given 
in Esperanto, and in several places he was obliged to give his lecture 
two or three times, because the crowds that came were so large 
that it was impossible for everybody who desired to hear the lecture 
to get in at the same time. There were large numbers of people in 
every place who actually understood him; all did not understand 
him, but a large number did in every town. For instance, in Paris 
and Barcelona there are many thousands who understand Esperanto. 

Here is another German firm in Berlin. Here is a bookseller in 
Paris issuing a catalogue entirely in Esperanto. Here is a leaflet 
about the Panama Exposition published in Esperanto. Here is the 
town of Baden, a watering place near Vienna. They publish a guide 
of their town in Esperanto. Here is a catalogue issued by the 
Oliver Typewriter Co. printed in Esperanto. Cook’s famous touring 
agency has used Esperanto for the last seven years. Here is a 
Scotch tea firm publishing a circular in Esperanto. Here is a bicycle- 
saddle maker in Germany using Esperanto for publicity. Here is a 
Berlin taximeter catalogue in Esperanto. Two years ago there was 
held in Leipsic the greatest hygienic exposition ever held anywhere. 
It was the most successful of its kind up to date, and hundreds of 
thousands of people attended from all over the world. In that 
exposition Esperanto was used to a great extent and the exhibition 
authorities published a guide to the exposition in Esperanto. Here 
is a railroad company, that uses Esperanto. A great many railroad 
companies in Europe already use it. They issue regional guides to 
the most attractive parts of their districts in Esperanto. Here is a 
Paris automobile company with a circular in Esperanto. Here is the 
biggest iron works in England, the Consett Iron Co., of Durham, a 
firm that employs 30,000 hands, and that firm publishes its catalogues 
and price lists in Esperanto. This is only one of their Esperanto 
publications. 

Here is a circular issued by a Paris department store. All the big 
department stores of Paris not only use Esperanto in their publica¬ 
tions, but actually have interpreters for Esperanto in their stores. 
The biggest ink firm in the world—the Stephens Blue Ink Co., in 
London—use this language for their correspondence. About six 
years ago they began to use Esperanto and published their advertise¬ 
ments and their circulars for foreign trade entirely in Esperanto. 
The town of Antwerp publishes an illustrated guide of the town in 
Esperanto. Here is a very big Anglo-American firm of medical 
supplies, Burroughs, Wellcome & Co., and they use Esperanto in 
many of their circulars. The Government of Brazil three years ago 
sent a man to lecture in Europe as to the attractions of Brazil. That 
man lectured in Paris to an audience of 3,000 people entirely in 
Esperanto, and the Government published his lecture in that lan¬ 
guage. Here is a curious document. This was issued by the anti¬ 
alcohol congress in Italy last year, and you will notice that Esperanto 


ESPERANTO. 


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is used, and that it is recommended as the only remedy against 
the language trouble which entirely hampered the deliberations of this 
congress, as it does all international conventions of every kind. I will 
hand this to Mrs. Crafts, because she will be able to tell you more 
about it, since she was there. 

That is the commercial side of it, and these are only a very few 
samples of the actual and practical use being made of Esperanto in 
this line alone. I could produce, no doubt, a great many more such 
examples, but I can not carry them all about with me. Here are 
some 60 to 70 guide leaflets published by so many different towns in 
France, in Italy, in Austria, in Germany, in England, and in several 
other countries—leaflets printed in Esperanto for the use of foreigners 
and tourists. They give them information in Esperanto about the 
various things they might first need to know on arriving at those 
cities. For instance, here is Milan, Italy, and Poitiers, France, and 
Insbruck, Austria, and Tavia, Italy, and Davos, Switzerland, and 
so on. In the same line here are 20 more elaborate guidebooks to 
various towns in Europe, published entirely in Esperanto by the local 
authorities. Of course, you will not have the time to look at all these 
things just now, but I will leave them with you. Then, again, I think 
I can safely say that there are over 100 periodicals published in 
Esperanto in different countries. 

it. Esperanto is making very rapid progress in Japan and China; for 
' instance, I have here an excellent Esperanto paper published by a 
native society in Japan. 

The Chairman. In what nation is it progressing most rapidly ? 

Prof. Christen. That is difficult to say, but seven years ago 
France was at the head, and Germany did not take it up for a long 
time. Then about five or six years ago England shot ahead of 
France, and then suddenly Germany took it up, and now I think 
Germany is ahead of all the other countries in the practical use of 
Esperanto. But it is making good progress everywhere—in France, 
in England, in Denmark, in Bulgaria, in Spain, in South America, 
in Germany, in India, in China, and in Japan. In Germany the 
authorities and scientific people have very strongly espoused Espe¬ 
ranto. For instance, the Government of Saxony sustains financially 
an Esperanto institute in Dresden, and that does a great deal of good 
work. The Government of Saxony is also a large contributor to an 
Esperanto library, which is the biggest in the world, as yet. And in 
many towns in Spain, in Germany, and in France, especially in 
France, whenever an Esperanto lecturer goes into a town he gets a 
stipend from the town; the town pays out of the city funds the 
expenses of his propaganda, or partly pays them; they contribute 50 
or 100 francs, and frequently more, according to the size of the place. 
That is the practice in many places in other countries besides France, 
but especially in France. Even the Russian Government gives 
financial aid to Esperanto propaganda. 

The Chairman. As I understand it, this is not supposed to be a 
universal language ? 

Prof. Christen. No; an international language. 

The Chairman. But at the same time it is a language in which all 
the universe can meet upon a common plane and converse ? 

Prof. Christen. That is the intention, to give the whole of the 
civilized world one and the same secondary language. 


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ESPERANTO. 


The Chairman. In which they can all meet on a common plane ? 

Prof. Christen. Yes; no matter where you may go, if you know 
Esperanto, you shall not be a foreigner anywhere. The intention is 
to do away with this terrible handicap of being unable to converse 
with your fellow men of the various countries you may visit unless 
you learn all or most of those languages, a thing which, as you know, 
is in most cases quite impossible. It is the intention to have all the 
nations understand Esperanto, and by that means make .it possible 
for all the peoples of the world to commune directly with each other. 
The time has come in the world’s history when a common vehicle of 
human expression is absolutely necessary, and the barrier of Babel 
must fall, as mostly all other obstacles to free intercourse have already 
fallen, before the triumphant advance of modern science and tech¬ 
nology. It is positively fatuous and futile to ask the modem man, be 
he in commerce or science or what not, to become an expert in his 

£ articular line of endeavor and a polyglot besides. It can not be done. 

anguages are too many and each one too complicated for our 
crowded curricula. The obligatory study of foreign languages belongs 
to a remote past when there existed no sciences and no industrial arts, 
when life was less crowded and when there were fewer world lan¬ 
guages. Even less than a hundred years ago a man was an accom¬ 
plished cosmopolitan if he knew French and his own mother tongue. 
To-day he wants and ought to be conversant with French, German, 
and Spanish, at the very least, besides English, and before long he will 
have to tackle Russian and Japanese. As a matter of fact in some 
of the European countries and in South America the school children 
actually spend from 35 to 60 per cent of the school time in acquiring 
that sort of an education, which is really not education at all but only 
a means to an end. 

The Chairman. What progress has Esperanto made in the 
United States ? 

Prof. Christen. In this matter the United States is behind all other 
progressive countries. There have been many sporadic efforts made 
and there are Esperanto groups in different places from New York and 
Boston to Chicago, San Francisco, Seattle, Portland, Tacoma, etc., but 
as a national movement it is not what it should be, and the difficulty is, 
as far as I can make it out, the enormous size of the country. It is 
difficult for a society, without very large funds, to carry on an effective 
^propaganda all over the country. 

Then another difficulty is that Americans are not generally very 
much given to what I should call ethical ideas of this kind, that offer- 
no immediate and sudden cash returns, until they really become a 
craze or until a certain class, perhaps, takes them up.(4) Let us not 
forget also that the American people are not so much in touch with 
the language difficulty as are other countries, and they do not yet 
appreciate the enormous use that Esperanto will be to them, for, in my 
opinion, no white people will benefit more from Esperanto than will 
the American people, chiefly because like all English-speaking nations 
they are very poor linguists. Then it is becoming more and more ac¬ 
knowledged among educational people that the English language is the 
only language that can not be taught. It is well known that if y 0u 
put educated people from different countries together the Anglo-Saxon 
will invariably be the one who understands his own language least 
That is due to the peculiar construction of the English language ' 


ESPERANTO. 


9 


However, Esperanto would not be difficult for the American people 
because it is so scientific, so logical, and entirely free of all irregulari¬ 
ties. Prof. Mayer, of the University of Oxford, learned Esperanto in 
his seventy-ninth year. I heard him make a speech in the language 
about six or seven days after he took it up, and he declared that 
Esperanto ought to be introduced into the educational system of the 
country. He was professor of the Latin language at the Oxford Uni¬ 
versity. He declared Esperanto ought to be introduced into the 
schools, into the kindergartens, where children of 5 years of age should 
begin with Esperanto, and I hold with him, because if children were 
to learn Esperanto it would be of help to them in their English. It 
is extremely easy to learn and can oe learned in a very pleasant 
fashion, because it is so scientific and so simple.(5) 

If children understood Esperanto, they would understand English 
better, and much of the time we waste in trying to teach them 
English would be profitably spent, for they would have something 
to go upon, something to compare English with, and that something 
so scientific and so logical as Esperanto. Take, for instance, analysis. 
I will not say it is difficult but I will say it is impossible to analyze 
an English word, because every word can be so many things. It 
can generally be an adjective, a noun, a verb, a preposition, a con¬ 
junction, and an interjection, that is, the same word, without any 
structural change, so that it is difficult for a child to discriminate 
and label the word. Take the word “benefited.” That might be 
used in the past tense (I benefited), or as a past participle: (We 
may have benefited), and it is impossible for a child to sense the 
difference, and such confusion occurs to a great extent with most 
words in the English language. 

I am a teacher of languages and have done nothing all my life 
but study and impart languages. If I had to teach you gentle¬ 
men, say, French upon the theory that you were going on an impor¬ 
tant mission this day 12 months, and that it was absolutely neces¬ 
sary that you should speak French (or any other language that I 
could impart you) by that time, I would say it was impossible for 
a number of busy men to acquire a new language inside one year; 
that I could not guarantee useful results, but that if you would take 
two months to start with for the learning of Esperanto, then I 
might be able to teach you the other language in the rest of the time, 
because Esperanto is ~the best foundation for learning any lan¬ 
guage. And, as I say, an English-speaking student, be he young 
or old, knowing Esperanto would more easily distinguish the parts 
of speech in English and possess a real and valuable “linguistic 
feeling” (which he now entirely lacks) because of his Esperanto. 

The Chairman. Is Esperanto made up of the derivatives of the 
various languages ? 

Prof. Christen. I will explain that, if you like, in a very few words. 
Esperanto is the work of a Polish scholar, Dr. Ludovico L. Zamenhof, 
who started with an inspired mind. I should say he was a great 
genius. He had studied a large number of languages, for, as a boy, 
nay, as a child in the cradle, he spoke four languages, because so 
many different languages were actually spoken in his home town. 
Then at school he learned several more and it is due to this poly- 
glotic experience and the evils caused daily by Babel in his own circle 
that as a child, almost, he conceived the idea of constructing a lan- 


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ESPERANTO. 


guage that should at once and for all time put an end to a foolish and 
intolerable situation. He must have been inspired in what he did, 
because he at once hit upon the only possible solution of the thing, 
and he hit upon it without knowing that -scores of others, older and 
more learned, had tried the same tiling and failed. His first stroke 
of genius was in the composing of his entire vocabulary by borrowing 
all his words from well-known sources. With the true insight of the 
genius he decided that the words of an artificial international lan¬ 
guage must be taken from international sources, and so he first of all 
hit upon the good idea to use first of all those words which are already 
common to most languages, and there are a great many more such 
words than we have dreamed of. He decided that that should be 
the starting point of his world tongue, because everybody would 
know those words to start with. Take the names of animals and pro¬ 
duce that come from certain parts of the world and carry their names 
with them, such as elephant, tiger, lion, camel, and a great many 
more. Take the rose; the rose is a rose in every language; so an orange, 
a lemon, a nut, and tea, coffee, and tobacco, etc., are the same in 
most languages. They may not be spelled the same or pronounced 
the same, but they are international, and therefore they are Esperanto. 
That was the foundation of the vocabulary in Zamenhof s new lan¬ 
guage—take words that everybody would know and use them in 
Esperanto (6). 

Mr. Towner. How do you determine those common names ? 

Prof. Christen. Well, he formed his vocabulary; he selected these 
words because they were international—to the exclusion of anything 
else. 

Mr. Towner. Well, that was not definite; it might be enlarged? 

Prof. Christen. Oh, yes. 

Mr. Towner. What was the vocabulary that he first issued ? 

Prof. Christen. Offhand, I think, about 963 words. 

Mr. Towner. What is the vocabulary now ? y/. 

Prof. Christen. Probably about 3,000 words. Now, I have dealt 
with the so-called international words; but the bulk of every language 
consists of what I would call home words, which every country has for 
its own; and the only way to bring equivalents for such words into 
the language was to select them from all the principal languages under 
consideration, which means, of course, the European languages and 
to select these words on the principle of greatest internationality— 
that is to say, such verbs as to come, to do, to write, etc., or the nouns, 
hand, knife, water, table, etc., or adjectives, like good, bad, healthy, 
etc. Before he put those words into his vocabulary, Zamenhof had 
their equivalents in all the European languages before him, and then 
he took from the whole list the root which was the most prominent, 
the root that occurred oftenest, and this became Esperanto, the idea 
being that the words selected should be common to at least four or 
five different languages. 

Mr. Towner. You do not mean that, do you ? You do not mean 
that the only words you would put into the Esperanto vocabulary 
would be those that might be common to at least four or five of the 
principal languages? 

Prof. Christen. Yes; whenever it is possible to find such words, 
and the words do not conflict with the general harmony of the 
language. 


ESPERANTO. 


11 


Mr. Towner. That is what I thought you meant. 

Prof. Christen. The consequence is that a language formed on 
these lines must be a Latin or Romance language because Latin gave 
birth to at least six languages: French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, 
Roumanian, and English, and besides, Latin and French have 
influenced and enriched the literature and languages of every other 
modern nation. The dictionary of Latin words contained, for 
instance, in Russian or German would be a very large volume indeed. 
It is a fact that all modern attempts at making an artificial language, 
and their name is legion, especially since the acknowledged success of 
Esperanto, are based on Latin. Consequently also, the international 
language must be largely English, because mostly those Latin words 
will be chosen that are common at least to French and English. I 
have lectured to hundreds of English audiences, and I have given 
them numerous examples of Esperanto words in my lectures that 
could be easily understood by everybody. Take the words “skribi,” 
to write; “lerni,” to learn; “mangi,” to eat; “trinki,” to drink; 
“tablo,” a table; “glaso,” a glass; “nazo,” the nose, and “huso,” the 
mouth; “mano,” the hand; take the adjectives, bona, bela, granda, 
kapabla, etc. Few, indeed, are the Esperanto words that do not 
connect at all with the English; in most cases, in at least 87 cases 
out of 100, you will find those words connect with one or many 
English words. 

Mr. Towner. You mean that 87 per cent of the words now in the 
Esperanto vocabulary are formative words ? 

Prof. Christen. Yes; they are connected with the English lan¬ 
guage, and from each Esperanto word you can form mechanically 
absolutely every word that sense and logic can possibly connect 
with the one and only meaning of the original Esperanto word. I 
am accustomed to lecturing before audiences and making this state¬ 
ment, which I make without fear of contradiction, that “if all of 
you were to take up Esperanto now and carry it on until you were 
as expert in it as I am, you would not in the whole of your studies 
come across more than 60 words, probably not more than 50 words, 
which are entirely new to you.” 

Mr. Towner. Of course, a vocabulary of 3,000 words is a very 
limited vocabulary; it is a primitive vocabulary? 

Prof. Christen. Yes? 

Mr. Towner. How are you going to increase it? For instance, 
how are you going to mate it a literary language? How are you 
going to write poems ? 

Prof. Christen. Personally I should not want an international 
language for poetry, although Esperanto does in fact lend itself 
excellently to the purposes of the muses. But to answer your ques¬ 
tion : First of all, the Esperanto language does not contain any words 
at all; I think there are only 128 full-fledged words, prepositions, 
adverbs, and conjunctions, but the rest of the vocabulary is formed of 
roots only. Let us take the words “to sew,” “to stitch.” The root 
is “kudr.” It is only a root, and that alone stands in the vocabulary. 
Now, if you want to make this root into a noun “o” is added to it, 
“kudro”; if you want to make it an adjective, you add “a” to it, 
“kudra”; if you want to make it an adverb you add “e,” “kudre,” 
which would mean by or through sewing, “sewingly,” if it could be 
so expressed in English; and if you want to make it a verb it would 


12 


ESPERANTO. 


be “kudri,” because every infinitive ends in “i.” You see, with that 
root to begin with you can form four words, and you can express a 
great deal more in Esperanto than anybody can possibly imagine; 
in fact Esperanto is, on account of its perfect and absolutely complete 
flexibility, more precise and more comprehensive than any language 
under the sun. As I said before, you can form four words from every 
root at the start if sense allows it, and sense allows you a great deal 
more leeway in Esperanto than anybody can possibly know about, 
because in no language are you allowed to proceed by sense. The 
English language does not allow it, nor does any other, not even 
German or Greek, but it is allowed in this most logical of all languages, 
Esperanto. (7) 

Mr. Towner. Take the illustration you have just used. We say 
“The sewing is beautiful/’ and “We find her sewing assiduously.” 
Now, we use the same word, but the formation of the sentence deter¬ 
mines whether or not it is a noun or a verb. 

Prof. Christen. You mean the distinction between the participle 
and the noun ? 

Mr. Towner. Yes. 

Prof. Christen. With your permission I will not answer that 
particularly, but will deal with the whole subject. I want to say 
that from every root you form four words, the four principal parts 
of speech. And the first thing to remember is this positive stroke 
of genius—that every noun ends with “o,” every adjective with 
“ a,” every derived adverb with “e,” and every infinitive with “i.” 

Mr. Towner. How would you carry that to proper names ? 

Prof. Christen. London would be Londono; Robert is Roberto, 
but proper names you are at liberty to do with as you please; give 
them the Esperanto ending or leave them in the original form. 

Mr. Towner. What about Washington? 

Prof. Christen. Washingtono. 

Mr. Towner. I mean, you would really change it? 

Prof. Christen. Yes; if you prefer it; that is, if it sounds better. 

Mr. Towner. In the language? 

Prof. Christen. Yes. 

Mr. Towner. For instance, if you were speaking about the city 
of Washington, you would not say Washington, but Washingtono? 

Prof. Christen. You will find it frequently printed as Washing¬ 
tono. 

Mr. Towner. Why do you do that, because Washingtono is not 
the name of the city ? 

Prof. Christen. Let me say that you say London in English, but 
that is not French. 

Mr. Towner. But we always spell Paris the French way, although 
we do not pronounce it the same way; that is, “Paree.”' 

Prof. Christen. But London is not London in French; it is 
“Londres” in French. 

Mr. Towner. Do you mean to say that if a letter were addressed 
to London froifi Paris the Frenchman would not pronounce and write 
it London but Londres ? 

Prof. Christen. Yes. 

Mr. Towner. He does not say London ? 

Prof. Christen. No; he says Londres. And the same is true with 
Dover; Dover is not French; The French would be Douvres. How- 


ESPERANTO. 


13 


ever, I want to say this, that after the first three or four years after I 
took up Esperanto geographical or proper names were left optional 
and they were not given any particular spelling in the Esperanto 
language and are not now. Many Esperantists now would say 
Washington and London. But you can make the change if you 
want to. 

Mr. Towner. Internationally, has not that come to be the custom, 
to pronounce the geographical names and proper names in the way 
they are pronounced in the country in which they originate ? 

Prof. Christen. I think so. As I said, there is no arbitrary rule 
about personal names or geographical names. Now, let me proceed 
with this marvelous scheme and repeat that every part of speech is 
distinctive in itself; that is the reason a child, when it knows Esper¬ 
anto, will not find English so hard and will understand English better 
than in any other way. Such a child will understand English far 
better than if it did not understand Esperanto, and that is a state¬ 
ment I often make in my lectures. 

Mr. Rupley. We had a man here the other day who has a language 
which he claims is an improvement on Esperanto. 

Prof. Christen, Yes? 

Mr. Rupley. He is from Ohio, I believe. 

Prof. Christen. I know. Since Esparanto began to move forward 
there have been at least 30 or 40 different schemes elaborated, and that 
is easily done. You can do it overnight. But there is no scheme 
that has ever touched and no scheme that can ever touch Esperanto, 
because it has hit the mark from the first. (8) 

Mr. Towner. What do you do with adverbs ? Do they have a 
definite form ? 

Prof. Christen. Every derived adverb ends in “e.” 

Mr. Towner. So you could not distinguish from the form between 
a verb and an adverb, could you ? 

Prof. Christen. Perfectly. The adverb ends in “e” and the in¬ 
finitive ends in “i.” 

Mr. Rupley. It is your contention that children will do better in 
English if they acquire a knowledge of Esperanto ? 

Prof. Christen. Undoubtedly; this is a statement I make in my 
lectures: If you gentlemen will give me a number of children aged 
4 or 5 years I will give them a quarter of an hour’s pleasant explana¬ 
tion about grammar, that is Esperanto grammar, and they will 
understand it after a quarter of an hour’s explanation; then I will 
jumble together a number of blocks, with various words on these 
blocks, and I will say to these children “pick out every noun,” and 
they will be able to do it—that is, pick the nouns from the adjectives— 
and so with every part of speech. 

The Chairman. Because they will know to a certainty? 

Prof. Christen. Yes; every word tells its own tale on account of 
its distinctive ending. Now, that is a thing you can not do in Eng¬ 
lish; that nobody can do in English, because we can not tell the 
parts of speech simply by the appearance of the words; we can only 
know from the context and that is not always easy. 

The Chairman. How does that apply to other languages ? 

Prof. Christen. The same thing applies more or less to all, be¬ 
cause they are all irregular; they were not formed; they have 
“growd” like Topsy. 


14 


ESPERANTO. 


Mr. Towner. The Latin language is more regular? 

Prof. Christen. Yes; but it does not begin to compare with Espe¬ 
ranto. Now, we have had these four words, and I want to proceed 
a little further, and I will take up something that will help me to 
answer your questions. If I had to teach you gentlemen French I 
would have to make you commit to memory 2,667 endings and 
contractions for the verb alone; it would take you months and 
months to learn that alone. The same absurdities and even 
worse occur in Italian, in Spanish, in German, in English, and in all 
so-called natural languages. 

Mr. Towner. And we never could learn these irregularities and 
exceptions. 

Prof. Christen. Well, if you did learn them you would never re¬ 
member them at the right time because the whole scheme is so com¬ 
plicated. This is only one of the many reasons which make us so shy 
at speaking foreign languages. Now, the same thing is true of 
German, and of all other languages, but it is not true of Esperanto. 
I will teach you the whole Esperanto conjugation in five minutes and 
you will never forget it, because there is nothing to remember. You 
already know that a noun ends in “o” and that the infinitive ends in 
“i,” and so on; there is absolutely no difficulty whatever. (9) Now, I 
am sorry I have to speak so rapidly, because I would like to give you 
more information. 

The Chairman. We would be glad to have you add to your remarks. 

Mr. Towner. You can extend your remarks. 

Prof. Christen. Since my time is up and, indeed, far exceeded, I 
will be very glad to do so. But before I leave you, let me read one or 
two items, which will only take two minutes more. Here is a quota¬ 
tion from the British Esperantist, of November, 1913, showing the 
progress Esperanto is making: 

The central Esperanto bureau, of Paris, gives the following statistics: In 1889, there 
had been published 29 books in Esperanto; in 1899, 123; in 1910, 1,554; in 1912 (to 
August 30), 1,837. Enough already to keep most readers going for full five years of 
Sundays, and the output, both of bookshop and of press, is increasing daily. 

Mr. Towner. In a general way, what is the character of this 
literature ? 

Prof. Christen. Up to now chiefly textbooks for learning Esper¬ 
anto, such as this little book [indicating], which can be purchased for 
10 cents. You can learn the whole mechanism of the language from 
one of these little books. Then there are a great many other publica¬ 
tions, translations, scientific articles, etc., and we have already 
several novels originally written in the new language. 

Mrs. Crafts. May I say a word right here ? I hold in my hand 
the New Testament, published by the British and Foreign Bible 
Society together with the Scotch Bible Society. It is a translation 
from Nestle’s Greek Testament, and the Old Testament is now being 
translated by one of the most eminent Hebrew scholars in the world. 

Prof. Christen. Here is the next item, which I would like to read 
to you: 

Evening classes for the study of Esperanto, under the auspices of the L C C 
(London county council) are being held at the Halstow Road Nonvocational Institute* 
Greenwich, S. E., on Thursday, 7.30-9.30 p. m., and at Bloomfield Road Commercial 
Institute, Plumstead, S. E., on Fridays, 7.20-10.50 p. m. Instructor Mr. William H. 
Dennis, B. D. E. A., 108, Eglinton Road, Plumstead, S. E., from whom any informa- 


ESPERANTO. 15 

tion may be obtained. These classes are designed especially to meet the requirements 
of the serious student, beginner or advanced. (10) 

That is from London. Then I have another quotation which 1 
want to read from Edinburgh: 

The chief constable of Edinburgh has interested himself in Esperanto, especially in 
view of the 1915 congress. The chief constable has ordered a copy of “Esperanto For 
All, ” to be sent to the 650 members of the Edinburgh police force, with a recommen¬ 
dation that the police learn the language. A class for policemen is being arranged, for 
which 14 names have been received. 

Esperanto classes for policemen have been conducted for several 
years in several towns in Germany, in France, in Spain, etc., and 
even during their hours of duty classes are going on in Esperanto so 
that policemen may learn Esperanto without the loss of their own 
personal time. I thank you, gentlemen, for bearing with me so long. 

Mr. Bartholdt. I should like to have an opportunity, if possible, 
at some future time to have you give us about 10 or 15 minutes to 
hear Mrs. Crafts. 

The Chairman. We shall he very glad indeed to give you that time. 

(The additional matter submitted by Prof. Christen follows:) 

(1) We are apt to lose sight of the fact that the whole world’s 
business is daily becoming more and more internationalized and that 
what in former centuries was done parochially is now more and more 
done internationally. 

The first public international convention ever held took place less 
than 75 years ago; it is a significant fact that this was a peace con¬ 
vention. To-day there are over 300 societies: Commercial, scien¬ 
tific, religious, sociological, industrial, sporting, etc., organized inter¬ 
nationally. During those seventy-odd years over 2,000 international 
congresses of one kind or another have actually taken place, and 
now a days not one year passes without several scores being added 
to the total. An incomplete list for 1914 gives 49 such prospective 
international gatherings and over one score of exhibitions, fairs, and 
festivals of an international character. 

What lamentable and foolish and provoking situation at such 
gatherings is due to the multitude of tongues only those know who 
have wasted time and money in attending them. Usually three or 
more languages are officially accepted and most of the time is irre¬ 
trievably lost in misunderstandings and more or less inadequate 
translations. 

Compare with this the nine yearly international Esperanto con¬ 
gresses held at Boulogne, Geneva, Cambridge, Dresden, Barcelona, 
Washington, Cracow, Antwerp, and Berne, at which from 800 to 
1,500 delegates from 20 to 30 different countries spent a week in 
complete communion through this wonderful language. Orations, 
discussions, sermons, concerts, theatrical performances, and general 
fellowship among the members being freely enjoyed by all, and often 
by individuals who had only had a few weeks of acquaintance with 
the language. 

An international language of some sort has become an absolute 
necessity of our new era of universal solidarity. 

A hopeful sign of progress is that many international organizations 
have already declared in favor of Esperanto for their future meetings. 

(2) The impossibility of ever making any national language inter¬ 
national will at once become clear if we imagine the whole youth of 


16 


ESPERANTO. 


the United States condemned to become proficient in French or 
Spanish or German. Say we take the easiest of them, Spanish; does 
anyone dream the thing possible ? Only an infinitesimal fraction of 
our young people could attain even a smattering, and that at the cost 
of from two to three years’ study; and even then it is quite unlikely 
that other nations would adopt the same language. But if they all 
did this impossible thing the Spanish-speaking peoples would still 
have the pull on them all because they grow up with the language 
and have not to acquire it artificially. 

What holds good for Spanish holds good for every other so-called 
natural language, including English, and more with English than 
any other on account of its barbarous spelling and pronunciation. 

None of these objections, neither structural nor national, apply to 
Esperanto, which is entirely neutral and ideally simple. 

(3) The U. E. A. (Universala Esperanto Asocio) has its central 
office at 10 Rue de la Bourse, Geneva, Switzerland. Yearly dues 50 
cents for private members, $2.50 for business firms. These contri¬ 
butions entitle the members to use the machinery of the association 
for the acquisition of information—free of cost, except postage— 
on any subject whatever (except confidential matters), the only 
condition being that the request be written in Esperanto. A sufficient 
amount of Esperanto for this purpose can be acquired by anyone in 
a few days, or even in a few hours. It is not even necessary to have 
a teacher, the textbooks being very easy to master. In America, 
if local booksellers do not yet stock Esperanto literature, the would-be 
student may apply to Peter Reilly, Esperanto bookseller, 133 North 
Thirteenth Street, Philadelphia, Pa. 

A growing number of Esperantists all over the world are using 
the services of the U. E. A., not only in correspondence, but actually 
traveling through many countries for pleasure or profit by means of 
Esperanto alone, and finding everywhere helpful hints and con¬ 
genial surroundings in the local Esperanto groups. 

In addition to the U. E. A. there is an international Esperanto 
society for the propaganda of the language; this has its world center 
at 51 Rue de Clichy, Paris, France, and powerful national societies 
in France (240 branches), in England (118 branches), in Germany 
(over 250 branches), etc. 

(4) I should, however, add, in justice to the American people, that 
wherever Esperanto has been brought to their notice by press or plat¬ 
form it has been well received. I have myself lectured to large and 
sympathetic audiences in Chautauqua, Buffalo, New York, Philadel¬ 
phia, Pittsburgh, and Washington. Public schools, high schools, and 
universities have frequently opened their doors to Esperanto, and in 
my own case the University of Pennsylvania and the University of 
Columbia have shown their open-mindedness to the extent of engaging 
a paid lecturer for a prolonged course. 

So has the Department of Education of the city of New York. 

In the Bureau of Standards, Washington, D'. C., a considerable 
number of scientists have declared in favor of Esperanto, and are 
adepts of the language. * 

My experience is that in this country the informed public warmly 
approves of Esperanto and the ideals it stands for, but expects the 
spread of the language to come through the schools. There is con¬ 
sequently in this country a special inertia in this matter, in spite of 


ESPERANTO. 17 

approval; this makes organized propaganda extremely difficult in 
such a vast territory. 

Accordingly the national organization, the E. A. N. A. (Esperanto) 
Association of North America), central offices, Newton Center, Mass., 
has so far had but a checkered and precarious existence. 

A rival society, the U. S. E. A. (United States Esperanto Associa¬ 
tion) , has its headquarters at Shaller, Iowa. 

(5) If I were asked how Esperanto could best be introduced into 
the schools, I should suggest that a limited course of lecture lessons, 
say, from 6 to 12, to the teachers would suffice to give them all that 
is necessary to enable them to practice the language until complete 
proficiency is attained. In many places there is even now a supply of 
local Esperantists ready to cooperate with the schools. 

After a month’s study any teacher should be able to teach others 
and perfect himself in the process. At first I would teach the language 
only to the pupils in their last year of school; many of them could 
make immediate use of Esperanto on entering business; most of 
them would probably get enough of the language during the last 
session at school to engage them to keep up the practice afterwards 
according to local opportunities. 

Please do not judge of this probability by your experience with 
other languages, which most students drop as soon as possible. Their 
endless complications make the study and practice irksome and 
futile, while Esperanto is positively fascinating. 

In my opinion two lessons of 45 minutes a week would amply 
suffice to secure practical results never dreamed of in the French, 
German, or Spanish classes. After a very short course of study, the 
boys and girls would get an opportunity to correspond with scholars 
of their own age and station m many lands. There are even now 
hundreds of school boys and girls in France, Germany, Austria, Spain, 
and even in China and Japan eager for such interchange of thoughts 
by means of Esperanto. 

The hour or hour and a hah spent weekly on this subject would 
be amply repaid by the increased intelligence and linguistic feeling 
of the pupils, and ultimately the subject could be taught with great 
benefit to the whole school, doing away with the necessity of inef¬ 
fectual attempts at teaching foreign languages to all and sundry, 
regardless of taste and capacity. 

(6) Perhaps a few remarks may be in place here to substantiate 
still more clearly the postulate that Esperanto fulfills absolutely the 
ideal requirement of a language that means to be introduced through¬ 
out the world as a „secondary or auxiliary language: Facility of 
acquirement to all nations. 

(a) There is not one difficult sound, such as our th, our obscure 
vowels, the French nasals, the German a, 6, ii, etc. 

The vowels are a, e, i, o, and u. Each has but one sound value, and 
that long and full, approximately as in the phrase: “Pa may we go, too ? ’ ’ 

(i b ) The tonic accent, an insuperable difficulty in English, on ac¬ 
count of its irregularity and elusiveness, is in Esperanto invariably 
on the last vowel but one. 

(c) The grammar is reduced to a minimum, the whole mechanism 
of Esperanto being compassed within 16 rules which any one can 
grasp and assimilate inside one hour. 

36151—14-2 


18 


ESPERANTO. 


id) The vocabulary is extremely small, less than 1,000 roots, 
mostly common to every Aryan tongue, being sufficient for all ordi¬ 
nary purposes of language. 

This is due to the marvelously ingenious system of word building, 
which enables anyone to derive from a dozen to one hundred and 
more words from every root, there being to this derivation no limit 
but that of common sense. 

Of course, the vocabulary for science and technology is consider¬ 
ably larger, but equally flexible. 

(e) There are no troublesome genders; sex is expressed by the 
insertion of “in” before the “ o ” ending of nouns, and of course only in 
the case of animate creation. For instance, “viro” is man, “ virino” 
woman, “frato” brother, “fratino” sister, “kuzo” male cousin, 
“kuzino” female cousin, etc. And here Esperanto has over all other 
languages not only the signal advantage that there are no irregu¬ 
larities, but the far more important advantage that the scheme is 
applicable to all cases. For instance, although we have in English 
from 30 to 40 different ways of forming the feminine such as father, 
mother; brother, sister; uncle, aunt; bull, cow; stallion, mare; fox, 
vixen; etc., yet in most cases we possess no decent or sensible way 
to indicate the sex of the individuals; as, for instance, in the cases of 
teacher, doctor, friend, cousin, neighbor, witness, elephant, camel, 
goat, typist, stenographer, companion, president, chairman, etc. 

Last, but not least, every word parses itself by its distinctiye 
ending. 

(7) The stupendous flexibility of Esperanto will be still better 
understood if I state here that it possesses some 30 particles (prefixes 
and suffixes), each with a definite meaning and each available 
whenever you want to attach that particular meaning to any word. 

We have already seen that the suffix “in” expresses the female sex 
whenever it may be desirable to give it expression. So “ id ” denotes the 
offspring, “il” the tool or instrument, “ist” the profession, “ul” 
the person or individual, “ec” the quality (abstract), “aj” the concrete 
thing, product, or result, “eg” means large, and “et” small, etc. Now, 
let us see how this works out in practice. Bovo is bull; bovino, cow; 
bovido, calf; bovajo, beef; bovidino, female calf. And you may say 
bovego, boveto bovinego, bovineto, bovidego, bovideto, bovidinego, 
and bovidineto if you wish to add the idea of size or smallness to the 
original or to the derived word. 

Again: “Lern” is the root for learning. We first get lerni, to 
learn; lerna, learned; lerne, learnedly; learno, learning. Next, using 
only a few of the particles we can make: Lernebla, capable of being 
learned; lernema, inclined to learn (studious); lerninda, worth learn¬ 
ing; lernilo, a text book (a tool); lernisto (a professional learner), a 
student, lernulo, a learned person, a scholar; lerneco, learning in the 
abstract; lerna]o, the matter to be learned (concrete), etc. And 
once more note that what you can do with one root you can do 
with every root in the vocabulary. So that the originally available 
number of words is multiplied ten and hundred fold. Which simply 
means a tremendous saving of labor in learning words and forms and 
yet secures a range of expression and a degree of precision undreamed 
of in any other language. 

(8) On the possime rivals, past, present, or future, to Esperanto see 
closing remarks. 


ESPERANTO. 


19 


(9) To complete what I said on the verb during the hearing I 
give here the .entire paradigm of the verb in Esperanto. 

Paroli, to speak: parolanta, speaking; parolata, spoken. 

Present, I speak, etc.: Mi parolas, ci parolas, li parolas, si parolas, 
ni parolas, vi parolas, ili parolas, oni (one) parolas, gi (it) parolas. 

There is thus only one ending “as” for the present of every verb 
and the same for every person. 

In the past the ending is “is”: mi parolis, I spoke, etc. 

In the future “ os ” mi parolos, I shall speak, etc. In the conditional 
“ us”:mi parolus, I should speak, etc. In the subjunctive “ u ”: ke mi 
parolu, that I may or might speak, the tense being sufficiently indi¬ 
cated by the antecedent verb. 

For the imperative we use the subjunctive without conjunction 
and generally without subject. 

The participle has a most ingenious flexbility, it having three 
forms, anta, inta, onta for the active, and ata, ita, ota for the passive; 
parolanta, speaking now; parolinta, having spoken; parolonta, 
about to be speaking; parolata, being spoken now; parolita, spoken 
formerly; parolota, to be spoken later. 

Only practice can reveal the wonderful usefulness of this scheme, 
again, of course, applicable to all verbs. 

One interesting sequel is, that as every word can be turned into a 
noun—if sense demands it—by simply changing the ending into o, 
we therefore get: parolanto, the present speaker; parolinto, the 
past speaker; parolonto, the future speaker. 

Let no one say that such richness and possibility of precision is of 
no importance; many a life’s jeopardy has turned on less. Nor 
can it be said that this unlimited capacity of expression makes the 
mechanism of the language cumbersome, for the whole scheme of 
Esperanto can be thoroughly mastered in a few hours. 

(10) In England Esperanto has been on the school rates for sev¬ 
eral years; any technical or continuation school can apply to the 
board of education for permission to put Esperanto on its program. 
In 1909 it was already thus taught in 33 centers. 

The London Chamber of Commerce holds examinations in Espe¬ 
ranto every year, and has done so since 1907. The United Kingdom 
Association of Teachers prepares for the certificate of proficiency in 
Esperanto. 

In the town of Lille, France, Esperanto has been taught in the 
high schools for at least nine years; about 1,500 pupils benefiting 
yearly from this. The same is true of Rio de Janeiro, in Brazil. 

In conclusion, I wish to register my opinion as an unbiased student 
of the whole movement for the adoption of an international language 
that Esperanto has nothing to fear from any rival scheme—present, 
past, or future. 

Of upward of 150 different projects that have seen the light since 
the seventeenth century, not one was born with a life worth saving 
but Esperanto; not one has ever attained one-hundredth part the 
power and vogue and vitality that Esperanto has achieved. 

One only of all these schemes has ever come prominently before 
the public before Esperanto came into the field, Volapuk, and this 
failed of its own defects. 


20 


ESPERANTO. 


One only among some 20 or 30 imitations of Esperanto, namely, Ido, 
succeeded for a time in creating a diversion in the Esperanto camp. 
If Yolapuk died of its defects, it is permissible to say that Ido never 
lived on account of its numerous authors’ everlasting chase after 
theoretical perfection, each one having a different opinion and 
changing the same with every wind—as to what constitutes perfection 
in every one of a thousand features of a human language. Accord¬ 
ingly, the Idoists have altered their mock Esperanto a hundred 
times in six years, so that no one has been able to keep track of the 
changes, and the adherents of the secession themselves have never 
been able to learn, speak, and use the language. 

During these six years Esperanto has succeeded in establishing 
itself and getting a firm hold in every civilized country from China 
to Peru and from Greenland to Zanzibar, because it is a live and 
growing language, perfect in so far that it is endowed from the start* 
with all the power of evolution without the need of any internal 
changes in its wonderfully simple structure. 

Here are a few quotations from great thinkers as to the need for an 
auxiliary language: 

The diversity of languages is'fatal for genius and progress. If there were a univer¬ 
sal language, we should save a third of life. (Leibnitz.) 

The interrelationships of the peoples are so great that they most certainly need a 
universal language. (Montesquieu.) _ < . Lw 

One of the greatest torments of life is the diversity of language. (Voltaire.) 

What an immeasurable profit it would be for the human race if we were able to 
intercommunicate by means of one language. (Volney.) 

It seems to me quite possible—probable even—than an artificial language to be 
universally used will be agreed upon. (Herbert Spencer.) 

The learning of many languages fills the memory with words instead of facts and 
thoughts, and this is a vessel which, with every person, can only contain a certain 
limited amount of records. Therefore the learning of many languages is injudi¬ 
cious, inasmuch as it arouses the belief in the possession of dexterity, and, as a mat¬ 
ter of fact, it lends a kind of delusive importance to social intercourse. It is also 
injurious in that it opposes the acquirement of solid knowledge and the intention 
to win the respect of men in an honest way. Finally, it is the ax which is laid at 
the root of a delicate sense of language in our mother tongue, which thereby is incur¬ 
ably injured and destroyed. The two nations which have produced the greatest 
stylists, the Greeks and the French, learned no foreign languages; but as human 
intercourse grows more cosmopolitan, and as, for instance, a good merchant in Lon¬ 
don must now be able to read and write eight languages, the learning of many tongues 
has certainly become a necessary evil; but which, when finally carried to an extreme, 
will compel mankind to find a remedy, and in some far off future there will be a 
new language, used at first as a language of commerce, then as a language of intel¬ 
lectual intercourse, then for all, as surely as some time or other there will be aviation. 
Why else should philology have studied the laws of language for a whole century 
and have estimated the necessary, the valuable, and the successful portion of each 
separate language? (Nietsche.) 

In this connection it may be well to repeat once more that Esperanto 
Is only an “auxiliary” language. Nobody dreams of its being a 
“universal language.” 

EXAMPLES OF ESPERANTO. 

Simpla, fleksebla, belsona, vere internacia en siaj elementoj, 1 la lingvo Esperanto 
prezentas al la mondo civilizita la sole veran solvon 2 de lingvo internacia; car, 3 tre 
facila por homoj nemulte instruitaj, Esperanto estas komprenata sen peno de la 
personoj bone edukitaj. Mil faktoj atestas la meriton praktikan de la nomita lingvo. 


1 “j ” has the sound of English “y,” as in boy, and is the sign for the plural of nouns and adjectives. 

2 “n” is the mark of the accusative or object of the verb. 

3 The diacritic sign A occurs on c, g, h, j, and s and has the force of an h after the first and the last—ch, 
sb. g is pronounced like English g in George, while g without sign has the value of g in good, j is pro¬ 
nounced like z in pleasure, while j simple has the sound of y in yes, esp. jes. h occurs rarely and is doomed 
to disappear in favor of k. 



ESPERANTO, 


21 


Ka] se vi pregas, vi ne devas esti kiel la hipokrituloj, kiuj volonte staras kaj pregas 
en la lernejoj, kaj apud la anguloj de la stratetoj; por ke ili estu vidataj de la homoj. 
Vere, mi diras al vi: Ili ricevis sian pagon. Sed se vi pregas, iru en la dambreton, 
kaj fermu la pordon, kaj pregu al via patro en la kasito, kaj via patro, km vidas en 
la kaciton, rekompencos gin al vi publike. Kaj se vi pregas, vi ne devas multe 
babili, kiel la idolistoj, gar ili opinias ke gi estos akceptata, se ili faras multe da 
paroloj. Tial vi ne devas simili al ili. Via patro scias, kion vi bezonas, antaii ol vi 
petas lin. Tial vi devas pregi tiamaniere. Patro nia en la fcielo. Via nomo estu 
sanktigata. Via regno venu. Via volo farigu sur la tero, kiel en la cielo. Nian 
panon 6iuta^,n donu al ni hodiaO. Kaj pardonu al ni niajn kulpojn, kiel ni 
pardonas niajn kulpulojn. Kaj ne konduku nin en tenton, sed savu nin de la mal- 
bono. Oar via estas la regno, kaj la forto, kaj la gloro en eterneco. Amen. Oarse 
vi pardonos al la homoj iliajn kulpojn, tiam via ciela patro pardonos ankafi al vi. 
Sed se vi ne pardonos al la homoj iliajn kulpojn, via ciela patro ankaG ne pardonos 
al vi viajn kulpojn. (La Evangelic Sankta Mateo VI, 5-16.) 

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